November 23, 2001

Ocie Lee “O. C.” Smith Jr. died in his home in Ladera Heights, California. Smith spent some of his youth in Little Rock (Pulaski County), and after graduating from college, he joined the U.S. Air Force and toured the world with the special services band. He would spend the next several years singing at small clubs around New York until he successfully auditioned for the Count Basie Orchestra, replacing the legendary jazz singer Joe Williams. Among his many recordings, his biggest hit was Bobby Russell’s “Little Green Apples,” which had the number-two slot on both the pop and R&B charts in 1968. Smith was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 1996.